Cucumber salad. Also, another cat.

I know you're probably expecting bedroom pictures (that's what she said).

Well you'll just have to wait, because it turns out that Jason and I are lazy old and have fallen asleep on the couch before and after dinner for the past few days. So pictures of my salad from tonight's dinner are all you're going to get.

I was looking at recipes online to get some new ideas, thinking that I would make one. But I'll be honest (and I think I've said this before): I suck at following recipes for anything that's not a baked good. So I decided to start with a tomato and cucumber base and walk the aisles at the commissary until something jumped out at me. Something always does.

Ingredients:

one cucumber
four roma tomatoes
one can corn
one can chickpeas
one can artichoke hearts
honey-roasted peanuts
salt
pepper

Quarter cucumber and slice into pie pieces. Quarter roma tomatoes and slice into pie pieces. Combine in a large bowl and salt lightly to absorb excess moisture. Drain corn and add to bowl. Drain chickpeas, rinse, and add to bowl. Drain artichoke hearts, cut into bite-sized pieces (I halved them), and add to bowl. If serving immediately, add salt, pepper, and honey-roasted peanuts to taste. If not serving immediately, refrigerate and add peanuts at serving time.

You could add dressing, but I don't think it needs it. The cucumber and tomatoes are a traditional salad-y base, but the other ingredients make it interesting enough to not drown it in dressing.

Jason ate every bite--and without being reminded to finish his salad. That's more success than I've ever had with a lettuce-based salad.

As a side note, a gorgeous tannish-orange cat showed up at the door, meowing mightily, while I was writing this. I'm surprised, actually, that it has taken this long for a cat to discover us. We've lived on base for 38 days already. We gave her food and water in bowls on the porch and she came right to me when I clucked at her. She even let me pick her up and cuddle her. After she ate and rolled around in the dirt under our bushes, I followed her into the back yard where she chased invisible mice and caught me a Capri Sun bag. I adore her already.*

Here we go again.

* I know, I know, we can't keep her.